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Bed replacement on R1 beta

Discussion in 'Projects' started by mark tomlinson, Feb 6, 2020.

  1. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    I had done this before with no real documentation of it, so when I decided to do this second one I figured I would write it up. Will be doing this over the next few days and writing it up with pictures.

    Essentially I will be removing the old drawer rails/wodden/plastic and glass bed from the beta and replacing it with linear rails and an R1/R1+ style bed. You could do this with any bed actually (we have another one done with aluminum, but sadly -- no write up). Others have documented this more or less in other threads as well.
     
    #1 mark tomlinson, Feb 6, 2020
    Last edited: Feb 9, 2020
  2. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    How it started -- note the borosilicate plate and the wooden bed

    20200207_105308.jpg

    and my first mod, the binder clips :)


    20200207_105302.jpg

    second mod LCD

    20200207_105418.jpg

    and with the top cover off
     
    #2 mark tomlinson, Feb 6, 2020
    Last edited: Feb 7, 2020
  3. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    20200207_114431.jpg

    Demolition done, bed and rails removed...

    20200207_115549.jpg
    The 8mm rods with the bed end-clips (printed)

    20200207_115558.jpg

    The bed (from PartsBuilt.com)

    Just for fun these were the secret sauce to leveling the old beta. Adjustable screws spring loaded on the bed corners... it did not come with that, but was a first must-mod...

    20200207_105934.jpg
     
    #3 mark tomlinson, Feb 6, 2020
    Last edited: Feb 9, 2020
  4. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    20200207_140545.jpg

    This is the wire to the RAMPS, red/black are the thermistor and the two (hard to see) stubby black ones were for bed heat.

    20200207_123200.jpg

    A shot from altitude. If you look close you can see that this is not a true beta, I had already replaced the threaded rods with leadscrews. No couplers in sight. It also had two Z switches on the crossbar because I had also added autoleveling at some point in the distant past :)

    20200207_135226.jpg

    Here I have ripped the bundle apart and split the thermistor wires from the bed into one set of Anderson Powerpoles (15 amp) and the other set is the 4 (2 per side) wires for bed heater. The two white clips are printed Y axis adjustment clips, they fit into the rail end-parts.

    20200207_115906.jpg

    Here I test-fit the bed to the rails... as you can see I missed the length by a bit... We will solve that in a minute :)
     
  5. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    20200207_152359.jpg
    Here I am fitting the Y axis coupler into the rail end-bracket. It seats with a screw through the end for adjustment of tension

    20200207_152351.jpg
    A better view of it threading the pulleys and cogs.

    20200207_154707.jpg
    Wiring harness done and the bearing blocks (printed of course) with the LM8UU bearings inside. You can see that I have extended the rail rod through the block of the one end-plate. This gets it sized correctly for the plate.

    20200207_154711.jpg

    Overhead shot of the belt, brackets and end plates all lined up.
     
  6. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    20200207_155213.jpg

    Rails done and belt tensioned
    20200207_165724.jpg

    Power routed a little differently that before, the powerpoles don't really fit under the bed and the R1+ has the bed wiring run back this way as well.

    20200207_202838.jpg

    Back on the table

    20200207_202847.jpg
    With his buddies. Almost ready for testing. A 6 foot tall delta (big PITA I call it) an actual R1+ next and then the Volcano unit (another one that started off as a beta) and last the newly converted beta-R1+ we just finished on the far end.
     
    #6 mark tomlinson, Feb 7, 2020
    Last edited: Jun 4, 2020
  7. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    There are two parts left.
    1) Get the Y axis limit switch re-positioned and working correctly.
    2) get the OctoPrint image built and installed on the pi. All of the printers are fronted by OctoPrint with a small box housing the pi and an LCD. You can see the small blue box for the Volcano unit in the picture, but all of them (even the delta standing next to them) all use that arrangement.

    I will conclude this tomorrow with the final details and a test print.
     
  8. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Motor controls working fine, initial bed leveling done (will have to be redone after magnets are installed)
    Bed is not heating. The wiring to that is a bit 'janky' so I have ordered a MOSFET still switch and will put that in and replace the wiring to all be spec for that heater. Thermistor reads fine...
     
  9. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    This will be added tomorrow.

    20200209_154642.jpg
    20200209_154711.jpg

    Heat sinked MOSFET for bed heater control ... the bed heater was fine so I imagine it still is...

    I like how the input is even labeled "D8" -- The output pin that the RAMPS is sending that signal on :)


    part is here: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B01HCVJ3K2
     
  10. BrooklynBay

    BrooklynBay Active Member

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    The MOSFET controller is a good modification. It takes the amp load off of the RAMPS, and will save the RAMPS in the event that the bed wiring shorts. This happened to mine. The insulation wore down, then the wires shorted. The MOSFET board continued to remain on, and wouldn't shut off. The short fried it but the RAMPS was fine. I swapped another MOSFET board in, replaced the wiring, and was back in business once again.

    Questions:
    1. Where did you get the STL files to print those extra parts?
    2. I see that your machines have a hole in the case where it once said 3d to have a fan. Does this set up cool the Arduino/RAMPS more efficiently? Does it still have a lower fan on the removable cover? Does this fan push the air in or draw the air out?
    3. I didn't know that the beta had a wood bed under the glass bed. Wasn't that a fire hazard?
     
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  11. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:681894

    The excellent Mike Kelly. Former member extrordinaire (still on facebook).
    @Mike Kelly

    Yes, these were beta units (original kickstarter in 2013) and there was no bottom cover. Still the Arduino/ramps being at the top of the bottom cover would overheat (heat rises...) so I always added a 3" muffin fan (12vdc) to exhaust air from the case (so it pulls it across the boards and out -- I have a thread on here with more pictures somewhere). Robo later with the R1 got wise and added a fan on the bottom cover -- I shudder to think how that would have turned out with no fan ;)

    Heh, no clue. I never heard of one burning down and it was not until the R1 started having bed heater wiring problems (and burning the wires) that any of them ever had a fire. Thus the new ribbon cable style heaver wire was added to the new R1 and later R1+ they at the time released a back kit you could either do yourself or send the printer in and THEY would modify it so that they would avoid the fire liability... The original wires from the ramps to the bed heater were in a word... Janky. 16 or 18 gauge too (undersized). The ramps is supposed to limit bed current at 11amps, but it can source 15amp short term and that wiring was really not rated for even the 11

    As a side note Only the beta with the heated bed had the wooden board/glassplate/heater sandwich, the ones with unheated beds were just a flat 1/2" chunk of delrin for the bed (yes, originally you could get them with or without a heated bed). For historical reference here is that kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1682938109/robo-3d-printer

    Yep, $475 a pop for the early birds who got in there for PLA only, $619 if you wanted the heated bed :)
     
    #11 mark tomlinson, Feb 9, 2020
    Last edited: Feb 10, 2020
  12. BrooklynBay

    BrooklynBay Active Member

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    Were the bed parts printed with ABS or PETG?
     
  13. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    PLA :)

    Plenty strong and nothing near the plastic gets above room temp or certainly not much above. PLA is good to 60-65C before hitting glass transition (so well over 140 degrees F) and PLA is plenty strong (nominally stronger as far as tensile strength than PETG since it has more Elongation 3.5 - 50% 6%
    as well as a better Flexural Modulus).

    I only use PETG for transparent prints (Taulman T-glass which is PETG with the epoxy coating to turn it transparent -- like glass -- If you want completely transparent prints that is the only filament to use).
     
  14. BrooklynBay

    BrooklynBay Active Member

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    The kickstarter page said that it was originally available as a kit with a 10x10x8 print size. Why did they reduce the print size to 10x9x8?
     
  15. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Honestly... they just got it wrong. was a bit of a hubbub post kickstarter.
    I think they intnded to be that size but it was lost in translation when the machines were made in China
     
    #15 mark tomlinson, Feb 9, 2020
    Last edited: Feb 10, 2020
  16. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Speaking of fans, that fan died when I tested the printer over the weekend so time to go get a new one.
    Not bad for a fan (probably) ripped out of a PC in the 90's :) It had a good run (6 years). Got a 80mm Noctua (3.1 inches -- should be fine) for a replacement. I will put that in when I put the MOSFET bed heater switch in.
     
  17. Scifideity

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    Hi @mark tomlinson

    Wiring for this Heat Sinked MOSFET seems pretty straight forward but wanted to double check just in case.

    I just got one of these and looks like they revised it. The larger connectors on one side are

    | - HOTBED + || + POWER - |

    Nothing too complicated there but the smaller connectors on the other side are labeled

    | SIG - || + BED - |

    | SIG - | is the lower one matching up to your D8 so that one seems like it would go to D8 on the RAMPS

    but what is | + BED - | for?

    Do I just ignore that one?

    Thanks
     
  18. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    See if this clears it up:

    download (2).jpg
     
  19. Scifideity

    Scifideity Member

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    Hi Mark,

    Sorry for the delay. Had to walk away from the printer issues for a bit and focus on Halloween Yard Haunt prep and setup. I'll be giving this setup a try later today and see how things go. Thanks for the diagram :)

    -S
     
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  20. Scifideity

    Scifideity Member

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    Hi @mark tomlinson ,

    Yeah, it does take me almost a month to take/down and pack up Halloween ;) This was my 20th Annual Yard Haunt so I had a bunch of new props that I built that I had to invent new storage solutions for. (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_n8yC178w2Ya9f0Tjp4WCg if you're curious)

    Now, back to my temperamental, potentially cursed, Robo3DR1+.

    So far so good.
    Ended up replacing everything but the motors, bed, and mechanical components. Basically, if it has a circuit, it got replaced.
    Since then, I've printed multiple 3DBenchy prints and it just ran all night doing one of the larger prints that were needed prior to Halloween and began this whole saga/adventure/quest/nightmare :D

    I'd love to loop back to upgrading the firmware to add in a Filament Runout Sensor and LED Lighting but that'll be an adventure for another day ;)

    Thanks again for your patience and all the help
     
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